Pure Craziness

That's exactly how I feel about the world today. Especially the grocery world. I had NO clue that I had to read every single freaking label. Who would've thought that a bag of plain, all-natural, raw almonds would have a peanut allergy warning on it? I sure didn't. Until after I ate some of the offending almonds and my eyes started itching and my throat started to feel like it was closing. Ugh. So now I read everything. Amazing how even dried fruit has an allergy warning for peanuts, milk and soy. Jeez. Having food allergies is pure craziness.

My infectious disease doctor is a huge drama queen. She read the results of the MRI of my parathyroids and told me I needed surgery to take the thyroid and the parathyroids out and I needed to be admitted into the hospital stat. Well. Good thing that I've learned not to panic when it comes to my medical stuff. I got a copy of the results and I just about laughed! I'm no doctor but I know a thing or two about how to interpret imaging results (it's easier when the radiologist summarizes it). THe report said that the results were "suboptimal" and recommended following up with a nuclear scan. So I got a seond opinion from my primary care, told her what I thought and she agreed. She ordered the nuclear scan :) I think I'm in the market for a new infectious disease doc. I'm into a reduced drama life.

Oh and then there's the palmetto bugs. People who don't live in Florida know them as cockroaches. Not the littler german kind. Nope. The big ones that were in that scene towards the end of "Men In Black." Ugly big things. Like at least an inch long. Ewwwww. They are so common here in Florida that calling them "palmetto bugs" just sounds nicer. But it's right up there with "a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." A roach by any other name is just as disgusting. Now keeping these ugly buggers out of the house is fairly simple. A bug guy comes out 3-4 times a year, sprays some stuff both inside and outside the domicile and no bug problem. Here's the pure craziness part: my lovely housemate does not believe in using chemical pesticides inside or outside. She's concerned for her dog's health. Are you kidding me?! Peanut Butter, the best little (well, fat) guinea pig in the world, isn't bothered in the least by those chemicals and crawls around on the floor to (when I'm nice enough to let him). The natural stuff to repel the bugs don't work. The end result is that I see evidence of the bugs on the dishes, in my cooking pans, in my pantry cabinets, in my bathroom and crawling amongst my clothes. And don't open the dishwasher at night because they are crawling around in there too! Seriously, that is sooooo gross. I'm so glad that my boyfriend (the amazing Terry) has extended an exit strategy: he asked me to move in with him. First he has to move out of the apartment he shares with his parents. My exit strategy does not have a set date :( Maybe (hopefully!) in July. Until then, patience and tolerance with the pure craziness in my house.

Not sure how my food pictures are going to turn out. My camera is not the best money can buy. Well, it's the best my money can buy. At least I can tell you how my food adventures are coming along. I'm still working on my savory yeast-free bread recipe. It's a work in progress. Almond milk is easy to make. I learned how to blanch almonds! Not sure if I like it better than rice milk. Homemade rice milk is on the "to do" list for today. It looks easy to make as well. Found a recipe for soy milk but I'm thinking of sticking with store bought. Almond butter. Yum! Can't say enough good stuff about that. Finding a good recipe through trial and error. Big error: using raw almonds. I ended up with ground almonds. I guess if I continued to process them I would have almond flour but I didn't go that route. Small error: letting the almonds cool completely after roasting them. I'm no science geek but I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the oils in the nuts. Maybe a research project some day. When life isn't pure craziness!